The Problem with Dreams

Here's the thing about dreams (if you didn't read last week's blog, you might, before jumping in here)...

We all have them.

In fact, God ordains many of them.

As previously mentioned, our belief should always be in the Dream-maker, not the dream, itself...

But sometimes, we mix those things up.

Sometimes, the "dream" becomes a ruling thing.

Sometimes, the "dream" takes over God's place in our hearts.

It become a must-have.

We fight for it.

We live for it.

In fact, in the end, it controls us.

That's when dreams become nightmares.

Especially when we find ourselves standing in the mortuary of our dreams.

Truth is, dreams are often illusive.

They don't always turn out like we expect.

I've stood by the graveside and buried many of my own dreams.

I've also held and cried with many others who've also watched their dreams die.

They weren't bad dreams to begin with; but, for some reason, life just happened, and the dream went south.

As I've grown older, and watched the demise of life-dreams, I've seen potential hazards.

We look around at others who seem to be living their dream, and we find ourselves rocked with jealousy.  (See Psalm 73)

We didn't get what we'd hoped for, and anger becomes the driving emotion, with bitterness riding in the backseat.

We start doubting the Dream-maker, become disillusioned by Him, disappointed in Him, and, often depression sets in... The hard truth is we've taken our Dream-maker to the court of our own opinion and found Him lacking. Then, everything unravels, clear to the foundations of our souls.

We begin living with deep regret over something that often can't change...mostly because life seems out of our control.

At the root of it all is this:

Yesterday's dream became 

(sometimes without even realizing it) 

tomorrow's demand.

When that happens, we set ourselves up for disaster. We back ourselves into a corner of a self-made prison. We've landed in a pit of our own digging.  All because we've let the dream capture our hearts. As one author has said:

"When my dream competes with God for the rulership of my heart, they functionally replace God as my sole source of security and hope..."

As I say, I've been there. Here are just a few things I've learned from Asaph in the Psalm mentioned and linked above:

1.  God is still Sovereign and in charge. I need to enlarge the vision of my heart to dream again, and line my dreams up with His dreams for my place in this world. God is always a God of fresh-starts and new-beginnings.

2.  Enter into His presence for a proper perspective...of my God and His dream.

3.  Confess how my "feet have slipped" and I've given my dream more power over my heart than I've allowed my God.

4.  Recognize the rippling effect of the unraveling of my soul on those who come behind. Asaph says, "If I hadn't caught myself, I would have betrayed Your children..."

5.  Stop looking around at others, just look upward at the Dream-maker.

6.  Celebrate eternity...God's plans never fail...there is always a forever-ending that is better than we could have imagined.